“I think that it is pretty clear that there are huge rumors going around the Internet about me up for the role as Jacob Black. At this point, they are only rumors. There are a lot of opinions going around on the Internet about this role. It is definitely a role of a lifetime and I would love to have that chance.”

I have already had tons of comments about this, but could we Jacob Black fans keep our minds open to the possibility of a new Jacob??  Most have you have said, “HELL NO”, but we might have to come to terms with the possibility of no Taylor in the new movie.

Director Chris Weitz may have inherited one of Hollywood’s hottest properties, when he took over the “Twilight” franchise from director Catherine Hardwicke, but he’s also been given a casting problem that has many Twi-Hards howling.

When Summit Entertainment announced Weitz’s new role as director, the press release also had a suspicious omission — Taylor Lautner, who played Jacob Black in the first film, was left out of it.

Many fans first thought this could have been a mistake by Summit Entertainment, but the company was quick to announce that casting for the character, who plays a major role in the second film as a werewolf, has not been decided.

“The casting decision in regards to the character Jacob Black has yet to be made,” a rep for Summit told MTV News.

As for who would replace Lautner, MTV reported that Michael Copon, from “Scorpion King 2,” is one of several actors being considered by Weitz.

Copon’s rep told MTV they are working hard to get Copon the role of Jacob.

The “Scorpion King 2″ actor is even conducting his own guerilla marketing campaign on Facebook, with status updates that read, “Michael Copon [is] in a Twilight Zone!” and “Michael Copon is the older Jacob Black!”

Copon’s rep confirmed to MTV News that the Facebook page is run by the actor and that he made the status updates.

But, die hard Lautner fans still have a glimmer of hope when it comes to keeping the 16-year-old actor in “New Moon,” thanks to the visual effects company that turned Brad Pitt into an elderly baby in his upcoming movie.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Lautner’s agent has reached out to one of the visual effects company that worked on Pitt’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” in order to show Weitz and Summit how visual effects could create a digitally bulked-up Lautner, suggesting the possible casting change was based on Lautner’s physique.

In yet more “New Moon” casting news, “Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” star Ben Barnes is angling for the role of Aro, “a mind-reading vampire whose ‘New Moon’ encounter with Edward and Bella helps shape their destiny together,” according to MTV.

It appears Summit and Weitz have a lot of decisions to make in a short time — “New Moon” begins filming in just 12 weeks.

AceShowBiz Reporting:

As soon as Summit Entertainmentcame out with the official release date of “New Moon”, casting reports for the first “Twilight” sequel rushes in. In the latest update of the sequel, MTV News has confirmed that both “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” star Ben Barnes and “The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior” actor Michael Copon are on the run to star in the movie. 

27-year-old Barnes reportedly is eyeing to join the vampire drama series as a mind-reading vampire named Aro whose encounter with Edward and Bella in the movie helps to shape their destiny together. Meanwhile, 26-year-old Copon is campaigning to play the new Jacob Black the studio are looking for in replacement of Taylor Lautner. 

On the omission of Lautner’s name from “New Moon” official synopsis, Summit revealed to MTV that it is intentional and was not a typographical error. Explaining on the matter, the studio’s representative shared, “The casting decision in regards to the character Jacob Black has yet to be made.” 

Following the romantic story between Bella Swan and Edward Cullen once again, “New Moon” will focus on personal conflict Bella experiences. Left devastated by the abrupt departure of Edward, she is drawn to Jacob Black, who happens to be one of the werewolves, the ancestral enemies of the vampires. 

The production is scheduled to begin in the coming months for November 20, 2009 release. Penned by “Twilight” screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, this next Summit romance drama will be directed by “The Golden Compass” director Chris Weitz and sees the return of Robert Pattinsonand Kristen Stewart as the unlikely lovers.

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According to Ryan Seacrest on his syndicated radio talk show, actor Taylor Lautner, who played the character Jacob in November’s hit “Twilight” and was expected to reprise the role in the saga’s later installments, will not return in the second film, “New Moon.”

Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the “Twilight” franchise, allegedly paid leading man Robert Pattinson too much money to keep him for the next three films and could not afford the rest of the cast, Seacrest said.

“Twilight” director Catherine Hardwicke was confirmed to not be returning for “New Moon” last week because she could not commit to the release schedule Summit wanted for the film.

In “New Moon,” Jacob (who Lautner played in “Twilight) plays the leading man role in the absence of Edward (Pattinson) — the love interest of main character, Bella.

Indeed, at press time the second movie appeared to have little more than a rough first-draft working script. As Summit’s production president Erik Feig told EW during Twilight’s record-busting first weekend, “There is that first…script. All the finesse that turns a screenplay into a movie hasn’t happened yet.” Two weeks later, Summit is saying it’s happy with screenwriter ­Melissa Rosenberg’s progress.

Another of Hardwicke’s primary concerns was that hunky vampire Edward remains MIA throughout New Moon’s middle portion. In her own opening-weekend interview, she told EW, “You have to get the chemistry as strong between Jacob and Bella as it was between Bella and Edward. You also have to do some thing with that arc: She’s in love with somebody, he disappears, she falls in love with someone else, and the first guy comes back. Movies like Pearl Harbor have tried it. It absolutely didn’t work.”

With or without Hardwicke, Summit faces other snags. Two sources tell EW the studio doesn’t want to rehire baby-faced Taylor Lautner (pictured) as Jacob, though Lautner’s agent has apparently reached out to the imaging company behind The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in an attempt to demonstrate to Summit how a digitally bulked-up Lautner could work. (Summit says it won’t make a decision until a new filmmaker is on board.) There’s also the matter of finding a cast of Native American actors to play Jacob’s werewolf clan — a difficult challenge Hardwicke was also faced with before settling on Lautner, who isn’t completely Native American. And with a slightly increased budget of $50 million — much of which is assumed will go to leads asking for heftier paydays, location shoots in Italy, and ramped-up F/X — Summit will have to scrimp somewhere.

So what director would want to take on such a big headache? Well, at press time, an offer was out to Chris Weitz (The Golden Compass), who put Summit on the map years ago when its foreign sales operation made tons of cash off of his first film, American Pie. (One source says Weitz has already had conversations with below-the-line crew for New Moon.) “We are in a recession,” reminds one Hollywood insider. “It’s a hit franchise. Whoever steps into it is guaranteed a $100 million gross. Everyone wants this movie.” Adds an exec at another studio, “You’d have to have a very high standard for art, hate the movie business, and hate money to walk off this sequel.”